The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1887-01-20

1t is very convenient thing, writes
Emily 5. Bouton in the Toledo Blade,
to have standing account at a store
where you can go At any time, order
what you please, and have it charged,
without the worry Of having to consider
whether you have enough money in
your purse to pay for it or not, but it is
also true that these items. small though
they may be, mount up with appalling
Tapidity into a sum that always surpass-
es expectation. Besides this. the very
/ best calculators, and those who general
/ ly use q wise economy, buy things in
this way which they could easily do
without did they take the time for reiec-
ton which cash payments would often
! compel. 1t is so easy, when au article
| that seems at the time desirable is seen,
TO order it sent and charged for, that
| temptation Oyercomes the buver before
| the strength which comes from looking
at the matter on all sides enables her to
resist the impulse to buy. Often pur-
! chases are made in this way and regret
| ted, while something that was far more
| necessary must IN consequence be gone
/ without.
Merchants. understand that a great
| deal more is likely 10 be bought where
| there is a running account than when
| cash is paid down which explains their
readiness to trust those whom they have
reason to believe will pay what they
| honestly owe. The excess will, in nine
! eases ont of ten, more than compensate
| for the loss of interest upon the out
standing sums, though there is no ques-
! ton but that they sometimes lose large
| amounts by the failure of individuals
! through misfortune, sickness, death, or
| deliberate rascality to discharge their
! debts.
Of course there are very many wo-
men who cannot control this matter
| Their husbands are the treasurers and
| dispensers of the family finances, and
cash payments are impossible without
| the masculine approval They see the
matter only in the light of diamond cut
| diamond. Their customers make them
wait for their returns. why should they
not proceed in the same way. Nor can
| they be made to see even from a selfish
| point OF view, that the pay-as-yOu-go
system, so far as family expenses are
| concerned, is far cheapersin the end, to
whatever extent it can be made practic-
able. And truth to tell, it would be far
easier in most cases to carry it out than
they will acknowledge even to them
selves
The women, however, who can COM
| mand the money, and those who earn
their own living, viii be far wiser to
| adopt the rule Of buying nothing which
they cannot Immediately pay for, or for
which the money is at their command
in a future SO near as to make it a GER
tainty, than TO have things charged
week after week, with the expectation
of settling 1t in a time which may find
them in a position that will render the
payment a most difficult matter Un-
certainty is au element entering very
largely into tnis life, and those people
who have the fewest odds and ends
floating out, TO become tangled at some
inopp0rtune moment, have generally
the. greatest measure of happiness. a
little self-denial in the present may save
you large portion of discomfort in
the future, for to the thoroughly honest
person, that one who means to deal
fairly by his kind. debt that cannot
be paid is an eyer-pressing nightmare.